1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for recording call details utilizing an IP (Internet Protocol) phone, and to a computer program associated therewith.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the recent development of high-speed internet environment through ADSL or FTTH, and popularization of broadband networks, the IP phone system based on a VoIP technique has been rapidly spreading. An existing IP phone system employs a computer provided with a call controller for controlling outgoing calls and incoming calls through a network such as the Internet, whereby voice data representing the contents of a call between phones does not pass through the call controller, but is exchanged through the network in a form of a voice packet, converted into an IP packet between the phones on the calling party and on the receiving party.
Under such circumstances, it is increasingly becoming necessary to keep record of the contents of phone calls, for example for facilitating investigation of a growing number of high-tech crimes and terrorism and the like, or for preserving evidence to cope with the sharp increase in the number of lawsuits. However, the IP phone system has a drawback that, as already stated, the computer provided with the call controller is unable to record contents of the call, and that hence a provider of the phone service cannot keep record of the contents of the phone call.
It could be an option to provide a phone with a recording system and a recording medium for preserving call details, however this is practically unfeasible from the viewpoint of introductory cost necessary for providing each single phone with a recording system and a recording medium. Besides, when a ubiquitous environment is more widely established under which different phones can be used for an identical number, the content of a call is recorded in those different phones, which makes it difficult to identify the phone in which required voice data is recorded.
In order to solve such problems, for example Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2003-46646 discloses a call detail recording system which requires both of the phones in use for a call to switch the connection to a server having a recording function, so as to ensure that voice data representing the phone call passes through the server, and to thereby enable the server to record the voice data representing the phone call.